WVC awarded $2 million Title III grant by Department of Education

Media Contacts: Dr. Susan Murray, institutional effectiveness executive director, 509.682.6435, or, Libby Siebens, community relations executive director, 509.682.6436 (Mon. – Thurs.)

Wenatchee Valley College has been awarded a Title III grant by the U.S. Department of Education. The five-year total for the grant is $2,179,644. The grant, originally set to launch today, will begin once federal government operations resume.

Title III grants help institutions of higher education to become self-sufficient and expand their capacity to serve low-income students by providing funds to improve and strengthen academic quality, institutional management and fiscal stability.

This grant will allow WVC to increase student transition, retention, and completion through comprehensive efforts to improve the use of data in decision-making and redesign programs and services to increase student access, in alignment with the college's Core Themes, Strategic Plan and accreditation standards.

Students in WVC's 10,000-square-mile service district face barriers of geography, cost, time, and preparedness for college-level work. To address these issues effectively, WVC will focus on three activities:

• Improving Student Transitions: focus on helping basic skills students move successfully and seamlessly into college-level programs. This will include development of a Chicano Studies curriculum, and offering additional I-BEST courses that integrate basic skills with content courses and hybrid courses that blend an on-campus class with a distance learning online class. The college will expand online access to educational planning and tutoring for students transitioning from basic skills to college courses, and expand the early-alert intervention system for students who are having academic difficulty.
• Increasing the Use of Data in Decision-Making: provide faculty and staff with user-friendly data collection and outcomes reporting tools, such as implementing web-based systems that provide information for personalizing interactions with students, and monitoring progress toward student goals and degrees and certificates, which will aid faculty and students in decision making.
• Increasing Access to Instruction and Student Services: expand the capacity of technology resources, create learner-focused classrooms, and increase access to support services and instructional content.  The college will expand resources for developing electronic course materials and support resources such as demonstrations, videos and guided tours through student processes. Classrooms will be retrofitted to incorporate new technologies and flexible classroom design. The college will also increase technical support for students.